It's nothing new. Religions have been doing it for centuries. Presently we have a mixture of the new power propagandists with the old ones: the decline of the universities and learned societies together with an upsurge of "revelation"-based beliefs.

Common to all the new opinion leading persons and organisations seems to be suppression of free exchange of opinions. And this is not only in the open society - it is also like that in large publicly-owned organisations. New Public Management - I've felt its methods at very close quarters. It is surprising how cheaply people can be bought.